a big rock, spring water, BWSSB and the twist

"Madam adhu same aane bennu haage itthu" (Madam it was just like the back of an elephant) and it took them 2 years to demolish it. 60-year old Krishna kumar who now owns a small savories shop on DVG road went on to add that it was all forested and is an extension of the bugle rock landscape.

This is bang in the middle of DVG road opposite the old Thukaram shop where a new building is under construction. A few months (4 months) back when i was passing that place i noticed good potable water running full force down the drain (beneath the footpath), the footpath was partly open as a result of the heavy construction work of multi-storeyed building and this was repaired by BBMP a couple of days back when a cow fell into the ditch and people cried hoarse - "Even i complained, Madam, i just couldnt take it...the poor cow"

I asked about whether anybody complained about the running water that was still going down - its almost like a small stream. They said that it was a natural spring that emerged from under the rock that the owners demolished and its been nearly two years and the basement of the building remains flooded., nothing can be done about that. The owners pump oput the water everyday but it fills up in 5 minutes.

I called the BWSSB number (from the long list that was published in a newspaper 5 years back to report leakage of water in different areas in Bangalore). As always BWSSB responded promptly and sent two engineers to the site. Within 10 minutes, i was there talking to Mayannna (??) and Dinesh (JE). They said it was not the spring water from the rocksite but the water was as a result of leakge in seepage of the nearby BTR tank.

"Its a big tank and difficult to repair., but we are working on it." When asked about how long it would take to repair it and since water has been wasting away for atleast 4 months now. they said they'll report it to their Engineer and have it repaired. The JE also mentioned that the flow was 4 inches. They left and i was headed home but on the way called the Executive engineer BWSSB (the original number i called) to ask a few questions and he directed me to the BWSSB office in MNK park

I walked into the BWSSB office where the staff was discussing the issue. The boss of the JE said the flow was as a result of a leak in the pipes and had nothing to do with the tank which is now non-functional and has been isolated as a result of having many leaks that are difficult to repair. He also mentioned that budget has just been sanctioned and the work of fixing all leakage work has been outsourced to L&T. The present problem he said he would have it fixed the next day before 11:30 am. He gave some excuses for not fixing the issue for so many months and infact denied that the issue existed for that long and blamed it on other leakages that might have been there when i saw it. However before i left he made a sincere request (almost pleaded) not to report the matter as news and it would reflect poorly on him.

The only thing missing are the people in the story are the ones who demolished the rock, the owners who also own 'the ladies wearhouse' in Gandhibazaar. I would have to talk to them. The loss of the rock and the huge loss of precious spring water going down the drain is unbearably painful. Both of which cannot be replaced ever...its lost forever.